DREAMJOBS

STARTING POINT: “Back in
1995, my uncle asked if we wanted
to check out a motocross race in
Millville, Minnesota. At the time, I
did not know too much about the
sport, but from that moment on, my
life has been nothing but motocross. I
decided young that I needed to make
this my career, and I was willing to
do anything in my power to make it
a reality. It took many years of hard
work and dedication and a never-give-up attitude. From there, everything
just fell into place. I landed a job in
graphic arts!”

THE JOB: “In the beginning, I was
mainly in charge of print design—ads,
marketing material, web, etc. Fast-forward five years and I’ve designed
or had my hand in a dozen or more
gear sets, helmets, gloves, boots, etc.
Here I am today, passionate as ever,
and working in the industry that I
love. I guess you can truly say I have
my dream job.”

STARTING POINT: “I started out
as a road racer and worked for a
motorcycle company doing customer
service while I put myself through
the University of California at San
Diego. I started riding offroad when I
was younger, and as I got older, my
passion switched from dirt to street.
After my racing was all said and
done, I looked for a full-time job in the
industry that I loved.”

THE JOB: “I am the marketing
coordinator for Shoei. My main job is
being the liaison between our company in Japan and the industry’s media
and distributors. I relay information
that comes from our headquarters in
Japan, work with agencies, put out
press releases and make sure our new
product gets to the editors. It took
almost nine years to be transitioned
to more of the corporate/professional
side of things. It’s been a very smooth
change for me, and I’m very happy
where I’m at.”

STARTING POINT: “At the
beginning of my career, I was fortunate to work for some large companies in a variety of industries and
acquire knowledge related to production. When the opportunity arose
to work for Arrowhead Engineered
Products (AEP), I was hesitant, but
now I could not be happier. The passion that our workforce and customers share is incredible.”

THE JOB: “I oversee the machine
shop here at AEP. We run production
parts for Cylinder Works (cylinders),
Hot Cams (cam shafts), Hot Rods
(connecting rods), and Supersprox
(custom sprockets). We have applied
SMED philosophy to our setups,
enhanced existing processes, created
flow cells to increase output and productivity. All of this was done while
improving techniques and implementing safeguards to protect against
errors given the increased output of
the machine shop.” ❏